HOME IS WHERE MY ROOTS ARE

I want to go home and watch a sundown on Jaeren,
Down by the sea, where the waves beat against the shore,
'cause behind the brim of sea, far out in the atmosphere,
She will color the sky red with flame and fire.
My mother on her beloved Jaeren while the sun is coloring the sky with flame and fire.
Picture by Gunnar, who also chauffeured her on two Jaeren trips, while my dad was paralyzed from brain hemorrhage.

THEN PLAY ON

Some shots from the broad range of music, vital in our lives.

If music be the food of love, then play on.
William Shakespeare.
From my beloved Sunday School. Yours truly playing guitar, back, third from the left. There was a pinoplayer as well in this joyful assembly.
My mother playing the same guitar just a few years ago. I'm holding her written song book from the 1930ies.
My mother is longing back to her scenery of her birthplace. In the washing basement she has painted a song about her beloved Jaeren.
Serina always attended a ten-sing choir. Lots of fun and lots of work behind their annual shows.
This time they had been allowed to write their own roles. Serina's natural choice was Tinkerbell.
She seems to be a little shy as Drama Queen s acting out.
No 17th of May without the musicians.
Serina cried at her 5th 17th of May celebration. "Oh, what about the flags? Whet about the music sheets of the musicians."
God had mercy. he let the rain stop during the parade.
Salvation Army's band is always walking in front of the school were Gunnar was a teacher and Serina a student.
Serina posing with her favorite rock band. She was interviewed on the local radio, being a "blood fan".
In the crypt of St. Patric Church, Dublin. Original music to Händel's Messiah.
The story , the wonder of how Händel came to write Messiah, and the way it was first performed in Dublin with great help of Dean Jonathan Swift, is one of the most moving "true stories" I know of.
Arena,Verona,Italy 2001. The great Verdi Jubilee, we attended The Nabucco. Va pensiero or The Hebrew Choir still makes my tears flow.
Back then, a warm summer's night with a full moon and the public holding candles.
I know of no word to describe the magic beauty.
Serina, 13, waiting at the Café L'Arena before the concert.
Eleven friends went to London to celebrate the 110th birthday of Turid and Björn.
We all like jazz and went to the 100 club in Oxford Street.
Elisabeth and Haakan of course knew the band from Herring jazz back home.
Bob Dylan in concert, Oslo 2009. A civilized audience were charmed by "His Bobness" playing old and new stuff. The legend on his never ending tour. Go see him while you can!
Aunt Sigrid and her choir in The Church Of Our Savior, Haugesund 2008.

Sinead O'Connor in Vikedal 2008. She was pure Irish magic.
Serina and her cousin Kristine Maria rehearsing flute and piano. Kristine Maria is an educated piano teacher today.

Young Serina admiring dad's instruments, and the Vox in particular.

Serina managed to get an empty petrol barrel from her idols, The Kaizer's Orchestra. It should be played the way she does. With worker's gloves, a crowbar and a gas mask.
In Sauda Church last Christmas. Nothing is dearer than the old Christmas carols, sung together.
Bo Dylan on an outdoor concert in Stavanger last summer. Did the old man rock!
He shook the entire football stadium.
Serina and I walking home after attending a Midsummer night's Dream at Royal Festival Hall, February 2005.
My Cousin Björn Ljung, sun of my late uncle Leif is a poet and a teacher. He wrote a beautiful poem about The Two Old Ones and dedicated it to my father's memory in the local paper.
Jonas Fjeld composed a melody for it and while watching over his father dying in Haugesund Hospital, Björn wrote a refrain for the poem.
This spring Jonas Fjeld and The Chatham County Line from N.C. played in Haugesund Concert Hall. Gunnar and I were invited along with my cousin and his wife. If there ever was a moment of eternity was when they played Björn's song.
Who haven't fallen in love with Mikis Theodorakis and his music. especially Zorba The Greek.
Serina and I fell flat on a Greek restaurant, Serina being 6 years. Later we went to Crete and heard the music of Theodorakis all over the island. In Sauda, the little tiny factory town deep in the Boknafjord we heard Theodorakis live for two years in a row. The Easter of 96 and 97 the composer and conductor himself performed in Melting Hall 3 for 1200 people. Gunnar, Serina and I were there, tucked in scarves, mittens and thick jackets. An experience for life and further on.

Theodorakis dirige Theodorakis à Sauda

RUBY ANTIQUE

Originated by MaryT, check hers for today.

The Baldishol Tapestry (http://www.drakt.org/Baldishol.html)is the oldest made in Norway. Woven in the 12th century. The month April and May is depicted. The original is in a glass mounter in Art and Craft Museum of Oslo. We said hello to it, visiting our capital for the Dylan concert. The copy is embroidered by my mother some 35-40 years ago. Hangs in our living room. Another is in my birth-home. Very good memories attatched to these two guys. I found this picture taken by Gunnar some six years ago. My Dad is drinking water and my Mom has evidently been making food..in my home.
I guess she'd made a staple of her delicious waffles.
Up left is the picture she embroidered.
My Dad died two years ago June first.
I miss him so.